Sight words

Part of building fluency in reading is being able to recall known words rapidly to help keep the meaning of the stories that the students read.  Each child has a Word Wizard folder where they sort the words they know and don't know yet.  We practice reading the words we know in a snap and then check the pile of words we don't know yet and see if we have any that we can move into the know pile.  The goal is for all students to know these words in a snap by the end of kindergarten.  Why is that important?  Being able to recall words quickly allows the students to read at a nice pace and focus on the comprehension/meaning of the story.  When students are not stopping to solve every word they are able to think deeply about the story:  what is the author's purpose, make connections to their lives from the story, make connections to other books they have read, question why events happened, and predict what will happen next.